The Basics of SEO: How to Judge Keyword Competition
The next step in the keyword research process is to identify the competitors for desired keywords
, and assess how difficult it will be to rank above them in the major search engines. To begin, type a keyword candidate into a major search engine and observe the first page of results. These listings are the competitors for this keyword. Choose one URL from the list and analyze its search engine strength. The primary tool for this is Yahoo Site Explorer. Use this feature to view the number in in-links for the URL. Record this data in your keyword research spreadsheet. Do this for multiple URLs that appear on the first SERP. It may not be necessary to attain back link information for all ten first page results, but the more the better. This information will give a general sense of how difficult it is to rank above those URLs. If a site has thousands of links, it will probably take a long time, and a lot of work to overcome their position. For sites with fewer links, the internet business marketing competition is most likely less fierce. Such knowledge may influence final keyword choices for SEO. Only the site owner can decide how much effort and time he is willing to put in (or how much money to invest in SEO services), a decision that influences keyword choice.
The Basics of SEO: How to Judge Keyword Competition